4000 yen is about 40 usd, and that was before painting him and giving him a weapon which would push him north of 40 possibly into 50. Compared to 23 dollars or 13 for a deluxe no mans land was properly called cause back then he would've been a financial loss at any class

 

can we start some kinda petition to get reprolabels done for these dudes lol

they'd probably make bank cuz the stock takara stickers suck so much

 

I'd be more tempted to send them off to get actual paint applied by a customiser personally. Need recasts of the Prime RiD Vehicon's gun too.

 

Overview:
I got this set yesterday, I'm glad to have it and I love the figures, the box is nice, showing a lovely picture of the first Autobot base. I find this odd since the 10th anniversary sets both feature Japanese-exclusive Decepticons. I can only hope that this means there are Autobot rereleases in the works, such as ComicCon exclusives or rare figures like the first edition Optimus Prime or so forth, but I doubt they will release any more. I think that the Nemesis (the Decepticon ship in Transformers Prime) would have been a better image for the box to feature. The inside of the box is also decorated. The bottom has the "Transformers: Prime" text, and beside that, the text " War Breakdown" and "Vehicon" under that.

Opening it up, there are the two figures, both without stickers, sitting in a plastic holder with PLENTY of plastic strings with tabs on the end holding them in. The Air Vehicon's wings are packed in upside down, which is the wrong way, and without pushing the Vehicon's arms in, you can't really put it the right way. If they were upright then it would have been too tall for the box, which I understand. Underneath that are two packages, one for each figure, containing some legitimate Prime-era instructions, a sticker sheet, and the model kit for the Micron in each bag.

The stickers are just junk. I hope Reprolables straight-up just copies the stickers for a higher-quality release, and this is a personal thing, but maybe also if they do, I hope they downplay the metallic-looking part of the stickers. They tore some (looking at you, vehicon wing accents), but you could disguise it mostly by cutting out the empty sections of the sticker sheet and applying them over the torn areas. I used a q-tip to apply gorilla glue clear to the knee stickers on Breakdown. I've had no problems with sloppy paint or bad quality joints, except Breakdown's shoulder, which the joint that lets his left shoulder move up and down in the right arm was loose. Again, gorilla glue clear and a q-tip, it felt identical to the left shoulder. The plastic on the Air Vehicon (the one I actually owned back when I was into Transformers: Prime 8 years ago) seemed cheaper than the original release, but I don't really know. These definitely aren't exactly made for kids, sticker application was enough to give me a tension headache.

I wasn't expecting this release though, it's good to have it released in America, even if it is eight years later. Breakdown was a notable exclusion from the toyline, and to an extent, so was the Air Vehicon, but since we got the Ground Vehicon, people seemed to not care as much. With that said, here's how each of the figures are.

Air Vehicon:
The mold is beautiful, so are both the robot and jet modes. when I look at it, I can't help but think that a lot of thought and care went into the mold, especially since it's just an extensively remolded Ground Vehicon. The Air Vehicon nicely compliments how the RID Ground Vehicon looked and felt, which gives you the experience that it's definitely a trooper, along with his car-brother. It's a lovely pink-ish purple, and the only complaint I have about it is that the stickers are awful, the worst being the wing's silver accents and the large, purple leg pieces. Cut those stickers into three corresponding parts for each side before applying them, I didn't do that and it was a pain. The mold is nice though, light piping is nice through the head and his eyes glow a slightly lighter tone than raspberry jam. (Weird comparison, but I promise it's accurate.)

His micron is WAY too big. Something 1/4 the size would be more appropriate. It's way out of place. The micron itself is modeled well and easy to put together, but the plastic is slightly cheap, plus twisting it out of the packaging leaves noticeable rough marks on the figure, which is okay. The sticker for the edge of the blaster doesn't stay down. The legs move a bit weird. The iguana is adorable. (For those who don't have context, his gun turns into an iguana) For some reason though, it’s a light grey, where the original was a grey-ish black.

Breakdown:
Breakdown is big, burly, and beautiful, and the mold is incredibly unique and surprisingly accurate, aside from the lack of paint. The stickers are kind of eh for the most part, the huge bumper sticker is VERY fragile. I had to patch it with the silver edges from the sticker sheet, but you wouldn't know if you weren't looking very closely. The truck grill is oddly not mounting straight on the figure, but it’s hidden in robot mode and held in place by the arms in vehicle mode, so it’s not a big worry, but still weird. The transformation is confusing at first, but not too hard. I can see a kid having trouble with the back section tabbing into the leg's panels, though, potentially even damaging the figure. Quality control with the joints is apparently bad, and even mine, a better example, sees that problem. Keep that in mind. The knee stickers also aren't great, they WILL come up. The shoulder joint in mine's left arm was loose going up and down, it wouldn't even hold up the microns.

His micron is a bit big, but passable. The sticker’s colors don't look right, they're the same as the figure's colors, but my brain wants it to be a painted silver. Again, rough marks where it's been snapped out of the plastic. It's easy to put together and the plastic is cheap, it bent just because I didn't fold the handle in during assembly. Something custom-made would be much more appropriate for the figure, but due to the fact that Breakdown was never released stateside until now, we most likely won't see such an attachment for him. The rhino form for him is just lovely, but I didn't purchase this set for the rhino.

Overview:
I recommend this set, but only barely. These figures are beautiful in concept and design, and if it weren't for the lack of paint and lack of quality control, I would recommend them without any questions asked. I still think it's a must-have, but that doesn't make them objectively great. You may need your own solution for broken stickers, loose joints, and other challenges that may arise from those two issues. Get it though, especially if you plan on manually applying the paint yourself and if you're handy with super glue or floor polish for joints, or whatever poison you fancy.

Questions? Message me, @the_broken_nerd on Instagram.

 

Costumer service finally got back to me about the missing piece on my Breakdown. They're asking for the date code and the vendor code of the product. I only found 1 set of numbers inside Breakdown's chest, and I'm not sure if I still have the packaging. Are these numbers the same on this re-issue for everybody? Or are they different for each figure?

 

It's both on the box. I had to tell them the same info. One number was like next to the UPC, and the other was embossed/etched near the red authentic Autobot symbol on the side of the box.

I called them and got everything squared away over the phone. I declined the 'comparable item' offer and they mailed me a refund check which I received like 3 weeks later. They told me to just keep the broken breakdown.

edit: @indifferent Here's my numbers if you need them: 02051 is the etched number and the one by the UPC is E9687.

I re-ordered a second copy that was fine, and the numbers are the same on both boxes.

Good luck.

 

Thank you so much for the help!

 

No problem. There's another number below the E9687. It's PN00052152 in case you need it. @indifferent

 

The hasbro representative offered a full refund only if I return the whole set. Or if I choose to keep it as is, they'll send me an equal-value replacement from their warehouse. They can't do much else since it's a store-exclusive, and apparently they don't do partial refunds, which is what I would have preferred in exchange for keeping the set since aside from the missing piece both figures have no issues.

I think I'll go with the replacement and place an order for a new set. At least that way I'll have a complete Breakdown and an extra Jet Vehicon

 

I too had an issue with my Breakdown and decided to choose the option of keeping my figure as is and getting an equal value replacement. Well, the “equal” value replacement arrived, they sent me an SDCC Exclusive Throne of the Primes.

 

Damn, you got lucky. I've seen some people get some Cyberverse stuff. While I have that set I would have love to get that as my "replacement".

 

That's fantastic!

I did not choose to look behind door number 1.  

 

Whatever they're sending me for the equal-value-replacement for my Breakdown/Vehicon set is on back order. I'm honestly curious what it'll be if you got something like Throne of the Primes...

 

Pit of Judgement?  

 

I too have that SDCC POTP TOTP Set but I’m glad I have another to finally open up and enjoy with the kingdom figures.
This must’ve been the luck of the draw, kind of curious as to what kind of Cyberverse stuff others got.

Who knows, what if you got some odd Cyberverse stuff or even better. But my issue with my breakdown was livable and I could just place another order as replacement.

If you have the FedEx app, you can see what’s coming to your house. My package was coming from Milton Bradley so I was wondering what the heck it was gonna be. Best of luck to you sir!

 

My Breakdown was a complete piece of shit. His head articulation is messed up, and the section part that has his wheel on his right leg has a very warped mushroom peg, which messes up the transformation. It is unsalvageable. Locked thigh swivels, but one eventually loosened up, the other is still bad, even with shock oil. Only swivels to a certain point, until the whole leg comes off.

The worst qc on a figure I've experienced! The only thing that has spared me from getting very angry, was that I only got the set because I wanted Jet Vehicon. I already have an actual 'good' copy of the Breakdown figure when it was first released. And I'm too lazy to return this defective set, as I don't want to risk getting a replacement that has a messed up Jet Vehicon.

 

If anyone has the breakdown set, I’m looking for it. Hate myself for somehow missing it  

 

PM'd you.

 

I found this set at a local store for around 30 bucks, is it worth picking up?

 

YES.